This analytic does not map directly to M. Azzara's essay but in addressing the questions I will reflect on her "Description" and images #1 (Archive Toxics 3) and #2 (Archive Toxics).What is striking about the visualization #1 is the presentation of surfeit—all these cataloged containers of preservation that assure viewers our past is well-tended. M. Azzara's visualization calls attention to the absences of documentation of the lives of Black pioneers in early Los Angeles history. Her work examines these absences as a form of toxics.Image #2 is M. Azzara's response to this toxicity by creating an superimposing the spectral presence of Biddy Mason in a photo of white settlers.These visualizations advance ethnographic insight by revealing the silences in our histories and further suggest a way to counter silences through imaginative (productive) retellings while problematizing archives as toxic places.
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